The UNESCO OER (Open Educational Resources) Programme and the UNESCO Chair on OER at the Open University (the Netherlands) are conducting a High Level OpenupEd Workshop on 3 - 5 February 2015 at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) in Lagos. The objectives of the OpenupEd Workshop are to provide a sensitization session to 250 NOUN academics on the role of OERs and MOCCs in increasing the quality and access to higher education highlighting the first 4 NOUN courses that will be released as open-licensed OERs and the design of the 1st open-licensed MOOC of NOUN.

The participants and NOUN will have a clear understanding of the challenges, time-frames, and required resources to develop OERs and MOOCs. This workshop is a direct follow-up to the Nigeria NOUN OpenupEd Workshop that took place in September 2014.

The overall goal of the Globalizing OpenupEd Project is to reach out to open universities and their associations worldwide to inspire, explore, and support them to establish similar partnerships working in a global network of linked initiatives.

OpenupEd is the first (and currently the only) MOOC Initiative that has a number of distinctive features:

1. Embracing the ‘classical’ openness of the Open Universities world

2. Adopting an open licensing policy (which, however, is not yet in its full implementation)

3. Offering a self-paced instead of scheduled approach for part of its courses

4. Offering the option of formal credit for part of its courses (to be obtained from the providing university, and to be paid for)

5. Reflecting diversity in terms of language and cultural context (the current partnership spectrum is covering 11 countries and 12 languages)

6. Dedicated to high quality based on a long-standing record on open and online education.

The OpenupEd Project is coordinated by Professor Fred Mulder, UNESCO OER Chair. With support from the European Commission, UNESCO is globalizing the OpenupEd Project in Africa working with the Africa Council for Distance Education (ACDE), and in Asia working with the Asian Association for Open Universities (AAOU).